Stone Hedge

Stone Hedge is the ancient seat of House Bracken, a castle in the riverlands that had been burned during the War of the Five Kings. By the time Jaime Lannister arrived in the region to secure the surrender of the last Stark loyalists, Lord Jonos Bracken had established his siege camp around Raventree Hall, the Blackwood stronghold, and was using Stone Hedge as his base of operations. The castle itself had been put to the torch by Gregor Clegane, who also raped one of Bracken's daughters and stole the harvest, leaving the lord nursing grievances even as he bent the knee to the Lannister cause.

History and the Bracken-Blackwood Feud

The enmity between House Bracken and House Blackwood stretches back to the Age of Heroes, when the Blackwoods were kings and the Brackens were petty lords renowned for breeding horses. According to Hoster Blackwood, the Brackens used the gold their horses brought them to hire swords and cast down their king, a grievance that has festered for thousands of years. The two houses have made a hundred peaces, many sealed with marriages—there is Blackwood blood in every Bracken and Bracken blood in every Blackwood—but fresh quarrels always reopen the old wounds. The feud is so ingrained that the very landscape bears its marks: the hills called the Teats are named Barba's Teats by the Brackens and Missy's Teats by the Blackwoods, after the mistresses of King Aegon the Unworthy who belonged to each house.

The Siege of Raventree Hall

When Jaime Lannister rode to end the siege, he found Lord Jonos Bracken commanding about five hundred men around Raventree Hall. Bracken had no siege towers, battering rams, or catapults; he was content to starve the Blackwoods out. The siege had been going on for half a year, and boredom and routine had taken over. Bracken himself was found in his tent with a camp follower named Hildy, whom he had taken as a prize of war after killing her former master. He was eager to claim the lands he believed Lord Tywin Lannister had promised him: the east bank of the Widow's Wash from Crossbow Ridge to Rutting Meadow, all the islands in the stream, Grindcorn Mill and Lord's Mill, the ruins of Muddy Hall, the Ravishment, Battle Valley, Oldforge, the villages of Buckle, Blackbuckle, Cairns, and Claypool, the market town at Mudgrave, Waspwood, Lorgen's Wood, Greenhill, and Barba's Teats.

The Negotiated Settlement

Jaime Lannister negotiated the surrender of Raventree Hall directly with Lord Tytos Blackwood, bypassing Bracken's claims. The terms included confession, fealty, pardon, and a payment of gold and silver. When Jaime presented Bracken's map of claimed lands, Lord Tytos agreed to cede Woodhedge, Crossbow Ridge, Buckle, Lord's Mill, and Honeytree with its hives. Bracken was dissatisfied with this settlement, complaining that he had been cozened and demanding a mill, but Jaime also required a hostage from Bracken—one of his five daughters—to be sent to court to attend the Queen Regent, a demand that made Bracken's face grow dark as he realized the implication. Jaime left Bracken with the warning that he had fought for the Lannisters not half as long as he had fought against them, and that some might say his head was recompense enough for his rebellion.